High Speed Crashes

We got sidetracked into discussion about high speed crashes on another thread and rather than hijack that one I thought it might be a good idea to start another one for this topic.

It is hard to say what caused the crashes on the canal MOS video but from the sudden way they precipitated I suspect they may have hit the bottom with the fin as well.

Part of the problem with this type of fall is that when the fin hits the bottom it simply loads up the harness even more and there is no way to take pressure off to unhook (as far as I have found anyhow). It sort of happens in slow motion in your mind at the time and you know you are gone but there seems to be nothing you can do to prevent a sticky ending.
My strategy for these is to ride the boom out. I simply hang on and go around the front which leads to me landing on my back in front of the sail rather than crashing through the gear. The damage is all done when the luff digs into the water on landing causing the sail to come to a sudden stop. That is when the boom breaks as my body continues on with great momentum but the harness and lines try to prevent it.
I have found by bitter experience that if I try to let go of the boom and get away from the rig it does not work because the harness stays attached and I simply end up crashing into the sail or other parts of the rig.
In the past I have actually broken the hook on my harness, or the buckles on my harness have smashed or ripped off or even ripped the harness lines apart, but lately it seems those things are surviving and it's the boom itself that breaks.

One idea I had was a 'dead mans handle' in the boom which works this way: While you are sailing your back hand is holding the handle clamped to the boom. If you let go the harness line releases. The problem with this is making it so the thing stays put when you are maneuvering etc. I thought of having a rubber band around it so that it stays put under no, or very low load but will easily pull out in a crash when you let go of it. The ideal time to let go would probably be the moment you feel the fin touch

interesting thing about whip lash is that you hear it as well as feel it

I've used the sail, mast, boom, 5 battens, and finally water to slow me down. Quite an expensive one-shot braking system.

I would say the boys on the canal crashed because the wind was so broad and strong the rolling chop became quite tricky for them given the style of equipment they were riding. One bad bounce and the windward rail kicks out of the water-> instant fin ventilation -> rail grab. I've done that before at 42kts, and it happens SO fast you dont even get to think "oh SH!T" before you are already swimming through carbon bits.

High speed spinouts are scary in close-spaced downwind following chop. I've had a few of those at 46-47kts and it really wakes you up (and makes you appreciate a board design that provide some safety margin for this kind of thing). I havent had a bad wipout since I got the CA speed boards 2 years ago. Touch wood!

So what are the features to look for in a board resistant to catching a leeward rail? Is it more than just soft rails? I'd heard v helps but my Sonic, which has the bottom filled to a huge amount of v, has still caught me out twice. The hybrid which feels scary because it's so short has never thrown me off. I think the trapezoid shape of both the hybrid and the CA50 helps because with a blunt nose a random piece of chop caught just forward of middle is less likely to cause a deflection and add to a spinout problem . I'll put the one big expensive crash on the CA50 down to seaweed.

But Sailquick has the best crash I've seen. He was going very fast on a very broad starboard tack 50 metres ahead so I was keeping a good eye on him. He went off like a giant rat trap. I still have the mental image of him half way round, fully inverted, lilly white feet to the sky, toes pointed (centifugal force, or maybe a balletic background?). He got up quickly - ankle deep water - that wasn't a rail catch, we're off topic.

Off topic abit but i've had more "low speed crashes" than high speed ones.
The ones i'm talking about is when you first take off hook on and just before you get the back foot into the straps the wind dies slightly the board sinks slightly and i'm flyin(in slow motion) around the front.
The only high speed crashes i have had recently is when i'm hooked in at speed and a gust picks up the board and dumps me onto my back.....they hurt!

TOUCH WOOD...
Thinking of a couple of the nastier hi speed get-offs I've seen at the Pit:
Daffy Biting Lee Rail upwind on chop,ducking under boom and going through window
Slowy biting lee rail at stupid speed and again going under boom,also going through sail window.
To me these sort of get offs happen in half a second and you could have the boom in the place of your front teeth in about .2 of a second!
The other way where you get to get slung over the top and you can back hand the boom to catch wind and slow you down before big rolling splashing horsey bomb[}:)].. is often fun As

hey Shelby, hows the new red peril? Must be no wind cos too many of us took delivery of new CA speed boards in the last few weeks.

Yeah that must have been the 42.9kt dismount on my old crusty 44cm board that once was a 55cm slalom board (and then a 49cm speed board, and then a 44cm speed board). It had basically no V and block rails. Suicide machine with a 20cm suicide fin that let go on me every 2nd run. aaaah those were the days...

The 5 worst (most painful) crashes I've done were all between 37 and 38 knots. The damage list from those crashes (apart from being totally winded each time) were several booms, 2 masts, and a couple of harnesses. Guess I was lucky not to include teeth and bones. One of them was so violent the pin got ripped out of the mast base about when the mast and boom snapped. Another one I found my harness bar sitting on the sail with a few broken battens. Both sides of webbing on the harness snapped near the buckles. Another one had the boom in 4 pieces, some floating away (umm can I have a warranty please, I was just sailing along, honest ). The price of speed sailing in crappy conditions...

Recently clipped the bottom and got catapulted at around 30knots (at Burrum speed comp) and quoting sailquick "It sort of happens in slow motion in your mind at the time and you know you are gone but there seems to be nothing you can do to prevent a sticky ending"

The boom head was torn off the mast where the hinged flaps wrap around the mast - the pin sheared through the knuckles of the hinge. Apart from the above and a small tear in upper half of sail I was surprised no other damage was done and I am wondering if this failure at the hinge joint actually absorbed alot of the force thereby reducing damage. Does anyone have an opinion on incorporating (inexpensive) breaking points into certain components / gear. Has anyone else had this happen.

BTW the boom was a Autima carbon and I too held onto boom going over the handle bars.

OK, so how about using weaker rope on the clamp???
Might damage battens, they'd be under a lot of compression once the clamp gave way?

But are we 100% sure that breaking away from the rig is a safer way to crash? The classic catapault where you go around the rig is usually fairly painless. The worst shakeup I've had was when I anticipated a crash and stepped off the back, if you don't have time to tuck up the water catches your legs and slaps you down pretty hard. The catapault at least gets your angular momentum going in the right direction before you hit the water.

It seems not clearing the rig is the big danger. Are we sure breakaway lines reduce the probability of this happening? A studded helmet is another safety feature we could think about - if you face planted the monofilm you should go through it a bit easier.

I think yoyo's ski style binding idea has some Merritt.
There could be a binding on either hip of your harness which you clip your spreader bar strait into and select your desired tension ,then on impact the spreader flies off.
The spreader could be on a string so you don't lose it.
As you're flying through the air you just have to hope the spreader doesn't re-coil into your nuts..
Perhaps the safety string issue needs some thought!